Noise deadening rail joint



March 20, 1956 l. STEFANlZZl 2,733,929

NOISE DEADENING RAIL JOINT Filed March 29, 1954 8 IO? //WE/\/7OR \GNAZIO STEFANIZZI Y B MW AGENT 2,738,929 I NOISE DEADENING RAIL JIOINT 'Ignazio Stefanizzi, Aversa, Italy, assignor to r Mrs. Aurora Tesoriero, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application March 29, 1954, Serial No. 419,281 l I This invention relates to a railway rail joint fordea'd ening andpractically eliminating noise when'railway Wheels pass thereon. i

Scarf and lap joints for railway construction have bee'n heretofore proposed for the purpose of minimizing the jolting, jarring or vibrating of passing wheels which occurs at'comrnon butt jointswhen one rail has moved to'a' position slightly higher or lower than the rail towhich it"is joined due to irregularities existing at said joints re sulting from variations in temperature and the like. I

- Although such constructions have long since been proposed, they have not proved to be satisfactory in service- They have tended to weaken the rails: at-a critical point, and where it has been sought to remedy this fact by introducing reinforcing elements at the joints,;

for many reasons.

the construction has-become complicated and the cost prohibitive." For these and other reasons, the common fbutt",

joint has remained the standard-practice in railway construction and no noise deadening railway joints have been adopted in railway construction, 1 It is among the objects of the present invention to overcome the difliculties heretofore encountered in railway. rail joints of the type to which the invention relates, and I provide a joint of the scarf or lap type which "issiniple in. construction and which will have'the advantagegoff leaving therail at the joint fully as strong as the common *btltt" joint while eliminating noise when railway wheels pass thereover.

A further object of the invention is to provide a joint for use in railroad tracks and the like which will permit the smooth passage of the train thereover without the noises usually caused by such passage.

Another object of the invention is to provide overlapping rail joints in which the weight of a train passing thereover will be gradually transferred from one rail to the other whereby the ends of adjacent rails remain aligned independently of forces applied to said rails.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a rail joint in which the forces exerted on the rail both in the longitudinal and transverse directions are distributed over a large area so that the total pressure on the facing ends of each rail is below pressures heretofore obtainable and the transverse pressure or shearing stress exerted on the ends of each rail is greatly reduced to substantially one quarter of normal whereby bending and Figure 1 is a top plan view of a rail joint constructed in accordance with thepresent invention.

Figure 2 is a transverse cross section taken on the line AA of Figure l.

In the drawings, reference numerals 1, l indicate rail sections which are joined in accordance with the present invention. The rail sections 1, 1 are common type T- rails, each having a flange 11, a web 12, and a head 13.

- Referring more particularly to the longitudinal median plane intersecting and parallel to the webs of the railsthe ends of each rail including the head, web, and flange are cut away along'parallel planes provided with aninclina-I tionlof'substantially 315 degrees or degrees. between said planes and said median plane, said parallel planes, further extending substantially perpendicular to the .bottom surface of the flanges of the rails to define forwardly directed inclined plane end faces 2 and 4 having substantially equal areas.

defining central contacting or plane side faces 3. The length of the central contacting faces 3,. is substantially equal to the addition of the projected length 7 ofend face's'2 and 4 on said longitudinal median plane. This construction eliminates jarring and vibration'ofthe. wheels of passing trains because no abutments or'striking" edges meetthe oncoming wheels.

ln constructing .a joint according to the invention two rail sections so out are joined by and the webs 12, are

reinforced by fish plates or channel members 15 provided with flanges 5 and 6 which are in force fit engagement with head 13 and flange 11 respectively.

1'2 and thus the ends of the rails are pre-stressed' to'provideeven greater strength and rigidity at the joint so that even the reduced stresses exerted on the rail ends will be readily resisted without deformation or derangement of the rail ends.

The forces exerted on rails 1 and 1 in the' longitudinal" and transverse directions are resolved into their 1 components due to the inclination of end faces 2 and 4. The

transverse component is distributedalong the area o'f the contacting faces 3, and the projectedlength on the'longitudinal plane of therails of 'end faces 2 and 4. The contacting faces 3 then'absorb half of the transverse pressure exerted on the rail ends while the end faces 2 and 4 each absorb one quarter of the transverse pressure. Thus it can be seen that great concentrations of pressure are avoided and the pressure is distributed uniformly at the ends of the rails. The longitudinal component is absorbed along the end faces 2 and 4.

In' conclusion, it can be seen from the above that the I pressures on the ends of the rails are greatly reduced so 7 effect of loads applied vertically upon the rail ends.

Conventional bolts 7 extend through the fish plates 15 and through suitable openings 7a in the webs 12 to be secured at their threaded ends by conventional nuts 7b. The openings 71: allow movement of bolts 7 therein for accommodating the expansion andcontraction' of the rails 1 and 1'.

It will be observed that at the center of the rails, the contacting and end faces 3, 2 and 4 lie equidistant between the two adjacent inner bolts and that at the outer surfaces of the webs 12 the ends of end faces 2 and 4, while a lying closer the inner bolts 7, will nevertheless be well spaced from such bolts. Each of the bolts 7 extends through only one of the rail sections 1 and 1' and the Patented Mar. 20, 1956 The portions of the ends of each rail between said parallel planes is cut away along said longi-] tudinal median plane and substantially perpendicular to: the bottom surface of the flange of said rails thereby A'fishf plate 15 is positioned on each side of the web 3 45 degree or miter cuts on the ends of the rails keep the tension forces on the bolts 7 within safe limits under rail expansion conditions since at least half of the expansion force is carried directly by the rail ends.

At this point it is noted that the inclined forwardly tapered end faces 2 and 4 are always made in the same direction so that if onerof the rails, for instance rail 1, were turned around, its opposite end would still match with the end of rail 1', as shown. j v

The rail ends are received in a plurality of chairs. or

sleepers 8 and secured thereto by adjustable keys 9 of metal which are attached to the cross members or ties 10 on the railway bed. Thus it can be seen that the. joint of the. rails is suspended between sleepers 8. j p In use, the construction above described present numerous advantages over rail joints of the scarf type as heretofore proposed. By making the cuts at the end of each rail. section parallel and at an angle of 45 degrees,

the cut does not extend through any of the bolt holes in the webs of the rails, and thus the rails are not weakened at this critical point. When the rails expand in hot weather, the two rail sections may come into abutment with little or no wedging action of the overlapping por tions against the fish plates since the pressures at the ends of the rails are greatly reduced. Where these cuts are made at a higher angle, the lapping portion of one rail functions as a wedge acting to pry the fish plate out! wardly from the rail. In the present construction the angle, at which the cut is made is sufficient to attainthe advantages of lap or scarf joints, but is below the angle atjwhich the rails will slide upon each other after expam sion into abutting relation, and thus the objectionable wedging action is greatly reduced. The railway wheels pass noiselessly over the rail joints constructed according to'the invention because they do not-jar, jolt or bit since the longitudinal cut is engaged by the rim of the wheels and the ends of the rails are maintained aligned under all conditions due to the distribution over a large area of the forces acting on the rails and due to the prestressing of the fish plates. i i

It isthus seen that I have provided a rail joint which allows a' noiseless and vibrationless passage of the wheels of a train thereover, which" accommodates expansion and' contraction of the rails and which requires a minimum number of parts for its eflicient operation.

'4 What is claimed is:

1. In a rail joint comprising a pair of rails in end to end abutting relationship and wherein the abutting ends of each rail include similarly formed but oppositely disposed projections, each of said projections consisting of a first forwardly directed inclined plane end face extending from the main body of each rail up to the longitudinal median axis of each rail, said first plane end face being disposed substantially at an angle of 315 degrees with respect to the longitudinal median axis of each rail and perpendicular to the bottom surface of each rail, a longitudinally directed plane side face disposed substantially along the longitudinal median axis of each rail and perpendicular to the bottom'surface of each rail, the length of said plane side face being substantially equal to twice the projected length of said first plane end face along the longitudinal median axis of each rail, and a second forwardly directed inclined plane end face extending from the end of said plane side faceand defining the tip of each. rail, said second plane end face being disposed substantially at an angle of 135 degrees with respect to the longitudinal median axis of each rail and perpendicular to the bottom surface of each rail, whereby forces transmitted through said rail joint are uniformly distributed over the abutting ends of each rail and progressively transferred from each rail, to the adjacent rail thereby maintaining said pair of rails in alignment and deadening noise.

2. In, a rail joint constructed according to claim 1, reinforcing prestressed plate members provided on opposite sides of said pair of rails, said reinforcing prestressed plate members having apertures positioned alongside V the main body of each rail and adjacent said first plane end face, and fastening means received in said apertures for securing said pair of rails together whereby concentration of pressure in said projections is prevented.

References Cited in the file of this patent 

